The Santa Rosa area continues to grow even though the housing inventory is quite low. Rebuilding and new construction are part of the solution, but fixing up old homes is also key. Updates and repairs such as electrical panel upgrades in Santa Rosa can turn a vintage house into more valuable real estate and a better place to call home.
Since 1950, the population of Santa Rosa has grown by 1,000 percent. Tens of thousands of homes were built in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. People love living in a house with character, but not with old infrastructure like an outdated electrical system.
Here’s why it’s important for any property owner to keep up with electrical panel upgrades in Santa Rosa:
- Power: Homes use more electricity now than they did decades ago. A typical old 60-amp panel cannot power all the major appliances and modern devices without tripping breakers or flickering the lights.
- Safety: Rust, frayed wires, wrong size breakers, and other issues found in old electrical panels can lead to sparks and fires.
- Code compliance: When you renovate a home, the electrical work must be updated to meet current NEC requirements. This includes GFCI and AFCI wiring, dedicated circuits for large appliances, and other codes that can be addressed with electrical panel upgrades in Santa Rosa.
- Insurance: When applying for new homeowner’s insurance, the provider can decline coverage or apply hefty premiums if the home has knob-and-tube wiring, aluminum wiring, or an antique fuse box.
When to Upgrade an Electrical Panel
A licensed electrician in Santa Rosa can help you decide when to replace a breaker panel or fuse box. There are two key questions: are there signs of electrical panel hazards, and do you have enough breaker slots and total amps of power to feed the home?
Electrical panel inspection begins with looking at the box and breakers for signs of corrosion, water damage, overheating, or arcing. Then we inspect the circuits and breakers (or fuses) to make sure they are properly sized. For example, if a 20-amp circuit breaker is used on a 15-amp circuit, the circuit could overheat without the breaker tripping—and that’s dangerous.
Proper electrical panel sizing depends on the number of circuits and total power. The appliances and lights on a given circuit must not exceed the amperage rating of the circuit.
When the household is using a lot of electricity (i.e., using the dishwasher and laundry while the air conditioner runs) you also need enough power to avoid dim lights or power loss. If you’re pushing the limits, your computers and phones could be damaged by varying voltage.
We recommend electrical panel upgrades in Santa Rosa if:
- You have a fuse box (with fuses that blow, rather than breakers that trip off)
- Your home was built before 1970 (so it likely has 60-amp service)
- Your home has the minimum 100-amp service (200-amp is now the norm)
- You notice flickering lights, tripped breakers, weak power to your air conditioner, your WiFi router reboots on its own, or any other strange electrical issues
Looking for an electrical contractor in Sonoma County for repairs and updates? Contact us about electrical panel upgrades in Santa Rosa to improve safety and bring your property up to code.
